Quick Review: Mario Odyssey

My son and I went out for the midnight release of Super Mario Odyssey a week ago and he’s been having a great time with it ever since. I got a chance the other day to play a bit on my own and I can see why all of the reviews of this game are so positive.

The general plot of the game is that you’re out to rescue Peach from having to marry Bowser. He’s kidnapped her and is traveling from place to place picking up wedding supplies. You’re following him to try and stop him, and fighting his rabbit wedding planners along the way. The main gimmick of this game is that you partner up with a sentient hat called Cappy who you can then throw to take out enemies, and take control of other creatures. It’s a fun mechanic and it’s pretty quick to get used to.

Otherwise, it’s a standard 3D Mario type game with jumping puzzles, and fun homages to older games with moments where you drop into old 2D 8-bit Mario. The real gem of this game is how cool the traveling from world to world feels. Every world you go to has a unique feel and structure to it. There’s tons of stuff to do in every world and learning what you can, and can’t, interact with keeps your curiosity high.

The initial storyline of the game is very quick, and you can solve it in a single evening. That’s just the beginning though as your next step is to return to all the other worlds to explore and collect power moons. These moons open up more worlds, and the coins you collect open up new outfits and collectibles. It makes for a lot more longevity than it seems at first, and almost makes it feel a bit like an open world game.

Super Mario Odyssey is a ton of fun, and if you’ve got a Switch I’d recommend picking it up. You’ll have plenty to play in it for quite a while.